LAS VEGAS –
What is the CHIP? It is more than an acronym. It is the first, multi-agency Community Health Improvement Plan and serves as a template to address health disparities in Southern Nevada. It is a collaborative effort of government agencies, health care providers, non-profits, and academia; a document focused on three priority areas with measures for success. The CHIP will be introduced at an event today at the Clark County Government Center from 10 a.m. – noon and it is available on the Southern Nevada Health District’s www.SNHD.info.

The Community Health Improvement Plan was the next step in a process that started with a Community Health Assessment completed earlier this year. The three priority areas identified by the CHIP address health disparities and move the community closer to the vision of a healthy Southern Nevada. The three focus areas are:

Promoting health through informed policy making and appropriate funding for local public health

“The Community Health Improvement Plan provides a comprehensive work plan for public health and its partners and stakeholders to dig in and eliminate health disparities in our community,” said Dr. Joe Iser, Southern Nevada Health District Chief Health Officer. “The work to complete this project has been undertaken by many partners, each of whom has a unique perspective and tools to address the needs of Southern Nevadans. The CHIP can be adapted or adopted by private industry or non-profits as they look at the goals and activities that they can implement to complete pieces of the plan.”

The CHIP will be implemented over a three-year period from 2016 through 2019. An annual report to stakeholders and the community on the CHIP’s progress will be provided by the Southern Nevada Health District; it will be revised as needed. Updates will be shared on Healthy Southern Nevada.

“As we work through the CHIP, we will be asking ourselves ‘are we doing the work we said we would do? Is our work having an impact and are we really addressing the social determinants of health?’ These are concrete ways to measure the success of the CHIP,” added Iser.

So far, the CHIP has been embraced by two community partners, Dignity Health and United Way of Southern Nevada, both of whom have adopted pieces of the plan and are rolling them into their own strategic initiatives.